Aviation Books

This printing includes Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) Parts 1, 43, 61, 71, 73, 91, 97, 103, 105, 119, 135, 137 141, 142, NTSB 830 and the complete Aeronautical Informational Manual (AIM).

Required reading for pilots.

If you are in any way a part of the aviation industry and do not possess a copy of this (or similar FAR works), I pity you. As a student pilot, this is in my flight bag 24/7 unless it's on my desk. Extensive coverage of those FARs most pertinent to the needs of airmen.

The paper is nice, the pictures are in color, and the FARs are nicely indented in outline format. Easy to read fonts too.

Buy this (i.e. the Jeppesen) one. I made the mistake of buying the one "edited" by Charles Spence, which had cheap paper and no indenting.

This one's less expensive to boot!

Critical flight rules for all types of operation. A must have for all pilots.

I was told by the author several years ago to expect this book. After many delays it is finally available and I might add, worth the wait. My comments are not meant to be cliche. This is one monumental three volume work whose meticulous research was the reason for its delay in being published.

Thousands of military aircraft were lost within the United States during WWII by all three services plus the Coast Guard. Many of us in the search and rescue business have seen the numerous wrecks that are scattered throughout the West as we go about our business looking for other missing aircraft. Like the author, I always wondered about the circumstances of these crashes which, by the 1970s, were long forgotten to history except by those few who remembered them.

Accident reports filed by the military services detail these incidents and their causes. But these reports are available only to the few of us who specialize in researching crash sites or who can afford to buy them. The author has taken these thousands of accident reports from the WWII US Army Air Forces, identified the 6,300 or so fatal ones, and have summarized them into this three volume set. Reading them is fascinating. Some examples include:

- The young navigator who disappeared from a B-24 while on a night, over water navigation training mission. Last seen headed for the rear of the aircraft, there is no evidence that he jumped since none of the aircraft's hatches or exits were opened during the flight. He simply vanished.

- The tragic accident in 1943 involving the CG-4 Glider which crashed during a demonstration flight due to structural failure. Among those killed was the Mayor of St Louis, MO, his city comptroller, the local Chamber of Commerce President as well as the two man crew and the officer in charge of the Army's Glider Procurement Program. The investigation found that the company who produced the glider did not follow the aircraft specifications which resulted in a wing strut to fail. The tragic irony, is that both the President and Vice President of the company who made the glider were also killed in the same crash.

- The numerous aicraft that were not found until many years after the war. They include the missing P-40 in California in 1941 that was not found until 1959, the two B-24s that disappeared over California the same night in 1943 and were not found until 1955 and 1960. The UC-78 that vanished in Arizona and not found until 1974. The most recent find is the P-38 lost in 1942 and not found until Sep 1997 in Washington State. At the back of Volume III is a list of about 75 USAAF aircraft that have still not been found.

- While many of the accidents were the result of the realistic training necessary to prepare aircrews for combat, some of incidents epitomize what the author calls the senseless carelessness that also kill people when you're training for war. The numerous unauthorized "dogfights" that ended in tragedy, the numerous crewmen who simply walked into moving propellors, the fatal misjudgements about weather, aircraft performance and navigation that pilots make even to this day.

Aside from sifting through all the reports, the author attempted to run down resolution of the numerous missing aircraft that were not found until well after the war ended. The USAAF attempted to up date or complete their accident reports as new leads came in or when planes were finally found. However, it seems that when the U.S. Air Force came into existance in 1947, these updates stopped. As much as possible, the author provides closure information on the aircraft found well after the war ended.

I now have a fuller understanding for the older military pilots I flew SAR with back in the 1970s. It seemed to me that they understood the concept of "safety" as just another word. That was because they grew up in an air force where pilots and aircraft were expendable and accidents were the "cost" of the dangerous business of flying.

One thing this book does not do is that it does not give you Lat/Long locations for these crash sites. It does not provide a current status of the crash site. He does not list the incidents by the original accident report numbers, but by his own tracking system as explained in Volume I. Neither does it list any fatal crashes for the other services unless it involved a USAAF aircraft. In addition, it only covers fatal accidents within the Continental U.S. It does not cover accidents in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico nor the rest of the Americas, such as Canada, Mexico and Latin America.

I forwarned the author that despite his intense research, he must be prepared for corrections and additional information. He has already made provisions for this on his website as listed in Volume I.

For the historian of WWII aviation as well as those of us who are serious in researching military crash sites, this book is a must for your library. Despite it's high price, this well researched and well written book stands heads and shoulders above similar books and is a must have. My hope now is that the author will now turn his attention to fatal aircraft accidents for the other services. And maybe one for all the non-fatal USAAF accidents. In whatever he decides to do, if he maintains the same high standard of research and accuracy he will produce another must have book.

Anthony Mireles has somehow managed to compile a monumental amount of very valuable information into a well-laid out and easily accessible format. Besides the date, location, and type of aircraft lost, many entries include notes of interest. The author uses an abbreviated but comprehensive writing style to describe how each loss occurred. The names of aircrew are listed in the mishap summary as well as an invaluable index.

The appendices alone are exemplary and very helpful. In fact, I have never seen a more complete listing of continental USAAF airfields anywhere.

The blood and sweat Mireles must've put into this staggering project is difficult to imagine. Going through 6,000+ accident reports on 16mm microfilm reels, indexing them, and then summarizing what can often be dozens of pages of bureaucratic rambling causation descriptions. Amazing!

There is even a list of all of the Still Missing Army aircraft from the war years. I had no idea there were so many.

This is a superlative reference work for aviation enthusiasts and historians, a must have. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 is a valuable asset for anyone researching WWII aviation, specific aircraft types, or the fate of servicemen and their airplanes. I salute Anthony Mireles and his publisher for pursuing such an enormous task. This will be a classic WWII reference in every aerophile's library.

As a lifelong pilot and flight instructor myself remembering my early days of learning the art and science of aviation I can only read each accident as one who can see that so many lives were wasted by inadequate training and lack of safety rules during the tempestuous days of WW2. I realize the times demanded quantity over quality yet when you see 6-8/day you see why the author said it was a virtual third front.

When you also realize that 120,000 airmen died in WW2 (400,000+ total) and only 40,000 were killed in actual combat you see the cost of this more statistically in training and operational accidents.

I remember some aces saying in effect it was a Darwinian process that resulted in having only the "best" make it into combat but when you read accident after accident and figure each pilot had a family who lost a son or daughter its really sad because so many could have been avoided with just a little more emphasis on safety.

However I can also see myself being thrown into such random situations in a high performance and non forgiving aircraft and being killed too; it was a random walk to survival for many of these pilots and then to be thrown into the fog of combat too and survive.

I am going to write the author to suggest one more thing however.

As a lifelong IT person this data would make a fantastic online data base application to allow relatives and others to search and retrieve this information not only for their personal interest but to give a better tribute to these men and women.

I salute all those in this book who gave their lives for us.

I was told by the author several years ago to expect this book. After many delays it is finally available and I might add, worth the wait. My comments are not meant to be cliche. This is one monumental three volume work whose meticulous research was the reason for its delay in being published.

Thousands of military aircraft were lost within the United States during WWII by all three services plus the Coast Guard. Many of us in the search and rescue business have seen the numerous wrecks that are scattered throughout the West as we go about our business looking for other missing aircraft. Like the author, I always wondered about the circumstances of these crashes which, by the 1970s, were long forgotten to history except by those few who remembered them.

Accident reports filed by the military services detail these incidents and their causes. But these reports are available only to the few of us who specialize in researching crash sites or who can afford to buy them. The author has taken these thousands of accident reports from the WWII US Army Air Forces, identified the 6,300 or so fatal ones, and have summarized them into this three volume set. Reading them is fascinating. Some examples include:

- The young navigator who disappeared from a B-24 while on a night, over water navigation training mission. Last seen headed for the rear of the aircraft, there is no evidence that he jumped since none of the aircraft's hatches or exits were opened during the flight. He simply vanished.

- The tragic accident in 1943 involving the CG-4 Glider which crashed during a demonstration flight due to structural failure. Among those killed was the Mayor of St Louis, MO, his city comptroller, the local Chamber of Commerce President as well as the two man crew and the officer in charge of the Army's Glider Procurement Program. The investigation found that the company who produced the glider did not follow the aircraft specifications which resulted in a wing strut to fail. The tragic irony, is that both the President and Vice President of the company who made the glider were also killed in the same crash.

- The numerous aicraft that were not found until many years after the war. They include the missing P-40 in California in 1941 that was not found until 1959, the two B-24s that disappeared over California the same night in 1943 and were not found until 1955 and 1960. The UC-78 that vanished in Arizona and not found until 1974. The most recent find is the P-38 lost in 1942 and not found until Sep 1997 in Washington State. At the back of Volume III is a list of about 75 USAAF aircraft that have still not been found.

- While many of the accidents were the result of the realistic training necessary to prepare aircrews for combat, some of incidents epitomize what the author calls the senseless carelessness that also kill people when you're training for war. The numerous unauthorized "dogfights" that ended in tragedy, the numerous crewmen who simply walked into moving propellors, the fatal misjudgements about weather, aircraft performance and navigation that pilots make even to this day.

Aside from sifting through all the reports, the author attempted to run down resolution of the numerous missing aircraft that were not found until well after the war ended. The USAAF attempted to up date or complete their accident reports as new leads came in or when planes were finally found. However, it seems that when the U.S. Air Force came into existance in 1947, these updates stopped. As much as possible, the author provides closure information on the aircraft found well after the war ended.

I now have a fuller understanding for the older military pilots I flew SAR with back in the 1970s. It seemed to me that they understood the concept of "safety" as just another word. That was because they grew up in an air force where pilots and aircraft were expendable and accidents were the "cost" of the dangerous business of flying.

One thing this book does not do is that it does not give you Lat/Long locations for these crash sites. It does not provide a current status of the crash site. He does not list the incidents by the original accident report numbers, but by his own tracking system as explained in Volume I. Neither does it list any fatal crashes for the other services unless it involved a USAAF aircraft. In addition, it only covers fatal accidents within the Continental U.S. It does not cover accidents in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico nor the rest of the Americas, such as Canada, Mexico and Latin America.

I forwarned the author that despite his intense research, he must be prepared for corrections and additional information. He has already made provisions for this on his website as listed in Volume I.

For the historian of WWII aviation as well as those of us who are serious in researching military crash sites, this book is a must for your library. Despite it's high price, this well researched and well written book stands heads and shoulders above similar books and is a must have. My hope now is that the author will now turn his attention to fatal aircraft accidents for the other services. And maybe one for all the non-fatal USAAF accidents. In whatever he decides to do, if he maintains the same high standard of research and accuracy he will produce another must have book.

After reading each chapter of this book, I wanted to visit every place the author described. Kohn is obviously a New Englander and is intimately knowledgeable about places to visit in New England and things to do. For someone who is not familiar with the area that Kohn writes about, the book offers an insiders look at unique B&B's, great restaurants and their specialties, parks to visit and a myraid of other fun things to do while visiting the area. This book is much more than a guide for pilots. Anyone traveling to this area of the United States should read Favorite New England Airports: A Guide to Aviation Activities and Entertainment. It offers one the chance to greatly enhance their vacation to New England!

James Kohns' book appeals to me because the author--rather than trying to write a guide that covers every airport, restaurant, and hotel and quickly becomes obsolete--focuses his comments on several activities and places he has personally enjoyed and thinks others will also like.

Kohn loves taking flight to enjoy New England's great outdoors, sports, the arts, culinary adventures, and lovely inns. His enthusiasm is infectious. He covers many places and topics, among them whitewater rafting, outlet shopping, and climbing Mount Katahdin in Maine; skiing, golfing, and boating in Vermont; exploring Nautucket and Martha's Vineyard and historic Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. He notes museums, offers advice on places to eat and stay, and provides the all-important basics of how to get around once you touch down at the airport.

In short, pilots who want to explore more of New England will appreciate the book for its practical advice on flight aspects. Pilots and non-pilots alike will enjoy the unique vantage point this book offers on activities. This is a delightful and practical guide to a varied and interesting part of the world.

It is great book, Mr. Lopez did a great job describing the life of a test pilot at that era. With the hottest planes of that time.

Donald S. Lopez is a national treasure. In addition to serving with Chennault's Flying Tigers in China, (where he won the DFC and became an Ace) Lopez was instrumental in testing the P-59, the P-80, and the P-84. (among many others) Mr. Lopez's writing style is verbose. He gets to the point quickly. And the point is either heartbreakingly sad, tense as hell, or incredibly funny. In this book and his previous work, "Into the Teeth of the Tiger" Mr. Lopez narrates a life anyone would be proud to say was their own. This non-fiction reads like fiction. The foreword is by Frank Borman.

all sorts of post-war B-17's - from crop dusters to gas stations to heavily modified B-17's. A Must have for the B-17 fan.

There have been many books published on the legendary B-17 bomber. But most of them cover the combat history of the plane, devoting only a chapter or less to the post war use of the planes and to the surviving aircraft. "Final Cut", on the other hand, is different. The book focuses solely on the non-combat use of the fortress, in roles Boeing designers never imagined the aircraft would do. Uses of the planes in the military such as target drones, air sea rescue and experimental work are shown. Civil uses include fire bombers, air mapping and transports (One plane even served with the CIA). There is also coverage of the planes that weren't so lucky and even discussion of Hollywood movies featuring B-17s such as "Twelve O'Clock High" and "The Best Years of Our Lives".

But where this book really shines is in the survivors. There are a few pages devoted to each survivor, with text and photographs explaining about the individual plane. The text of each section details the plane's use during and after its military service and eventual concludes with its current whereabouts and condition. The photographs help cover the lives of planes such as "Memphis Belle", "Shoo Shoo Baby", "Sentimental Journey", "Nine O Nine" and "Fuddy Duddy". Overall, a great source for millitary and avation buffs alike.

In the final hours (well really months) of World War II, the German military was still fighting to hope against hope taht something could turn the tied of Allied victory. This was the time when in Hitler's bunker the synchopants were still trying to durry Hitler's favor. This was the time when the Americans, British and Russian armies were reducing the amount of Germany that was left under Nazi control on a daily basis. During this time, units like that of Gen. Steinhoff were still fighting against all odds to try to turn things around.

By then, the Luftwaffe had better equipment in the rocket armed ME-262 jets than they had ever had before. But it was a time when a handfull of these superior planes were attacking thousands of bombers escorted by more thousands of fighters.

Mr. Steinhoff continued to fly in defense of Germany until his 262 crashed on take off and he was horribly burned.

This is a book about a war time hero (176 kills) watching his country fall apart. Then it becomes a story of a man, horribly burned struggling through months in hospitals getting his face put back into something not too horrible.

"The Final Hours" by Johannes Steinhoff is a gripping account of the final months of the Luftwaffe, told by one of Germany's top fighter aces. This translation retains the very readable style Steinhoff used to recall his emotional roller-coaster ride from the highs of leading a group of Me-109's in combat; his frustrations with Hermann Goering, which were shared by other fighter aces; the lows of his punishment for his participation in this mutiny; the joys of redemption as he led the only Me-262 group in the Luftwaffe; and the mixed emotions of spending his final days of World War II as a prisoner of war.

Steinhoff begins the tale in the hospital as a guest of the Ami's (German slang for Americans) , following the crash of an Me-262 which left him permanently scarred. Readers immediately relate to Steinhoff, by feeling a sense of intense sorrow for this proud fighter pilot as he begins his recovery from horrific wounds. Along with two colleagues, these once-proud German soldiers, now feeling doubly depressed as both patients and prisoners, plan a bold breakout across the knee-high picket fence surrounding the hospital to go recover a type-writer to begin writing Steinhoff's memoirs. While sounding like a trivial excursion, this trek saved an incredible tale of the mutineers who tried to stop Hermann Goering.

Upon receipt of orders directing "Fighter Group 77 to proceed immediately to Schoenwald airfield where it will be engaged in Reich Defense," Steinhoff moved high fighter group from Transylvania, Romania to an area near Berlin in October 1944. The allies are enjoying near air supremacy over the Reich, and former allies such as the Romanians, are now flying Me-109's against the Luftwaffe. With the Reich collapsing, Steinhoff recalls the words of Hermann Goering from the Areopagus, where he blamed the Luftwaffe commander's failure to espouse the ideals of National Socialism as the cause of the failure to protect the Reich. The Luftwaffe commanders thought they knew better - the proper use of the Me-262, the first operational jet aircraft in combat, could help turn the tide of war.

Subsequent chapters recall the various paths the fighter pilots use to promote this taboo topic. The mutineers first try through the General of Fighter Pilots, General Galland; then through the SS; and finally through Hermann Goering himself. Surprisingly, rather than being executed, the mutineers are exiled to the four corners of the rapidly shrinking Reich. Finally faced with a dearth of experienced fighter pilots, Goering is forced to make Steinhoff's dream of leading the only group of Me-262 jet fighters into combat.

The fluid writing style accurately describes the love affair between pilot and aircraft, as he steps through his pre-flight inspection and through the thrills of combat. Steinhoff also recalls some of the operational testing of new equipment, like an electric gunsight that leads enemy aircraft (didn't work) and rockets that sometimes worked. The chapter tragically ends with the catastrophic crash of Steinhoff's Me-262, and his subsequent trip to the hospital.

"The Final Hours" is a truly engrossing book capturing the exhilaration of flying combat. Combined with the incredible plot to remove Goering as head of the Luftwaffe, you will be hard pressed to find a more interesting book on World War 2 aviation.

This is a good book on multidisciplinary analysis using the finite element method. The book includes some practical applications and fundamentals. It is a very good reference book. However an expanded future edition of the book will be very useful for a beginner.

As the title of the book describes, a thorough development of the finite element approach to the various disciplines, namely structural mechanics, structural dynamics, heat transfer, computational fluid dynamics, and control engineering is given in this book. Of particular interest to both academic and practicing engineers is the development of the multidisciplinary application to aeroelasticity and aeroservoelasticity problems based on finite elements as the building block. Besides covering usual topics of finite element analysis, the text also includes detailed expose on such topics as the eigen value problems associated with structural dynamics and spinning structures, computational aerodynamics, and numerical techniques of solving coupled structures-aerodynamics problems, among others. Overall, the authors ought to be congratulated for writing this timely and much needed text and is an excellent contribution to the field. It will be of interest and value to both academic and practicing aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering community.

I read this book hoping it would give me an insight into what it must have been like for my father who was an airgunner in Bomber Command during WW2. Whilst he completed some 49 missions and survived the war he must have shared some of the experiences written about in this book. As with most aircrew, little if anything was forthcoming from my father about what he saw during that time. It must have been as harrowing for him to live with the experience as it was for the author to pursue her quest. The latter part of the book is very moving and heartwrenching. The final outcome came as a relief after an emotional read. An excellent read.

A harrowing tale of your parent's generation, and how they lived, fought, and died to win WWII. The true story of the author's father, the sole survivor of a Pathfinder crew of seven flying a Berlin raid in a Lancaster bomber, and his experiences leading up to and following Black Thursday, December 16/17, 1943. Exquisitely researched and related, this may be the closest many of us will get to understanding the meaning of sacrifice.